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Texarkana man arrested for infant's death

Wed, 05/08/2019 - 10:07am

The Texarkana Texas Police Department arrested Shomari Center, 25, of Texarkana Arkansas, on Tuesday for the murder of his two month old son in December. An arrest warrant was issued after he was indicted by a Bowie County Grand Jury earlier this month.

Detectives received information that Center was staying at a motel in Texarkana, Arkansas yesterday afternoon. He was taken into custody there with the assistance of the Texarkana Arkansas Police Department as he left his room. He later waived extradition to Texas and was booked into the Bi-State Jail.

On December 5, 2018, officers responded to the 1000 block of College Drive on the report of a baby not breathing. Officers found Center holding his son and immediately began CPR. Center said that he had carried the child from his residence in the 2800 block of Texas Blvd. while trying to get help. Officers were dispatched after someone called 911 for him when he got to the 1000 block of College Drive.

The child was unresponsive when transported to Christus St. Michael Hospital and later airlifted to Children’s Hospital in Little Rock. Doctors discovered that the infant suffered from hemorrhaging in the brain and multiple rib fractures on both sides of his body that were in varying states of healing, indicating that he had likely been injured on more than one occasion. The child died on December 9, and his body was sent for an autopsy in Dallas.

On April 16, detectives were notified that the medical examiner had ruled that the child’s death was a homicide. The case was then forwarded to the District Attorney’s Office with a request that it be referred to a Grand Jury.

Center was charged with Murder and Injury to a Child. He remains in the Bi-State Jail, where his bond has not yet been set.